Shangri-La Hotel Paris: A superlative in the city of superlatives

Without a doubt, Paris is one of the greatest cities in the world. From its monumental landmarks to its second-to-none museums. From its boulangeries which somehow all make the best baguettes in the world to countless Michelin-star restaurants. From world-famous flea markets to cutting-edge boutiques that represent only the best in fashion. Paris is the epitome of so many things — culture, fashion, art, food, and most certainly, joie de vivre.

And within this city of superlatives has opened a hotel the likes of which few other properties can even hope to approximate. A hotel that has debuted to as much fanfare around the globe as it has within Paris itself. Without question, this has to have been the most anticipated opening of a Paris property in many years.

The hotel, of course, is the Shangri-La Paris, the first foray into the European market by the high-end Asian chain. The property where the hotel now stands on Avenue d’Iena was the former palace owned by Roland Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandnephew. Built between 1892 and 1896, the property required four years of meticulous and painstaking renovation before it met the standards and — perhaps more importantly — the vision of the Shangri-La group.

This grand staircase is just one of the many architectural highlights of the hotel.

Every detail of the building has been restored. Stained glass windows were disassembled, restored, and reassembled. Wooden floor panels were removed, numbered, refurbished, and replaced. A metal roof structure uncovered during the construction now serves as a glass dome above the hotel’s restaurant La Bauhinia. No detail was too small. No task was too daunting. Apparently, it also seems like no expense was too great.

Already receiving rave reviews is the hotel’s French restaurant — L’Abeille — which is in reference to the imperial insignia of the Bonaparte family: a bee. The hotel’s culinary team is led by the hotel’s extremely talented executive chef, Philippe Labbe, who is the former executive chef of the Michelin two-star restaurant at La Chateau de la Chevre d’Or. Furthermore, scheduled to open later this year is a branch of the hotel chain’s signature Shang Palace that promises to offer Parisians the best and most authentic Chinese food quite possibly in all of Europe.

Bathrooms come complete with Bulgari amenities and heated marble floors. A great location with a subway stop just outside the door and a street market around the corner. In-room Nespresso machines. Asian standard rooms with an average size of 47 square meters topped off by similarly Asian standard service… in Paris!!! Implausible perhaps, but not impossible.

East meets west in the lobby of the Shangri-La Paris.

But for all the superlatives that can be used to describe the Shangri-La Paris, without a doubt there is one thing that sets this property apart from all else in the city and around the world. What elevates this hotel from great to one of the world’s best are the rooms and the one-of-a-kind views of the city they command.

The Shangri-La is located in the 16th arrondissement, a few hundred meters and literally across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. With about half the rooms of the hotel having unobstructed views of Paris’ most famous icon, on a scale of 1 to 10 for location, I would give the Shangri-La an 11. Get one of the rooms with a balcony and let me tell you, whether you prefer breakfast under the tower’s shadow or dinner watching the nightly light show, it will be an experience you will not soon forget.

The Shangri-La group could not have chosen a better property to start with when planning their first European opening. Without a doubt, this hotel is one where the best of the East truly meets the best of the West.

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